Over the blizzard weekend, the popular video app TikTok ran into widespread technical problems, leaving millions of users unable to upload videos, log in, or scroll a working “For You” page. The issues came just days after the app’s American operations officially changed ownership.
Outage reports began spiking early Sunday morning and continued into Monday, according to user reports and independent outage trackers, including data cited by The Verge. The issues were not isolated. Creators across the country reported videos stuck in review, frozen “For You” feeds, missing comments, zero-view videos, and an apparent “reset” algorithm, void of the hyper-personalized content TikTok has become known for.
TikTok’s U.S. operating entity attributed the disruption to a power outage at a domestic data center.
It marked TikTok’s first major test since its U.S. business was transferred to a new ownership group led by American and international investors—a deal designed to keep the app running after years of political pressure in Washington and national security concerns.
The agreement reduced the stake of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and placed U.S. data operations, content moderation, and algorithm training under American control, including Oracle, the cloud giant headed by Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison.
For thousands of users, the impact of the transfer was immediately visible.
Many creators, including those who rely on the app for income, found they could not publish new videos at all on Sunday. Others reported uploads that appeared live outside the U.S. but remained invisible to American audiences. News and media accounts showed similar issues, with new content appearing only to viewers overseas. Editing tools and related apps also showed signs of instability.
It wasn’t just the outage that piqued users’ curiosity—censorship speculation followed almost immediately. The outage coincided with a politically charged weekend after protest observer Alex Pretti was shot and killed by DHS agents in Minneapolis just a day before the widespread outages began. This prompted fears among some users that content—specifically political content—was being suppressed.
However, the scale of the technical failures suggested a broader systems issue rather than targeted moderation.
The disruption also came as TikTok rolled out updated terms of service for U.S. users, reflecting its new ownership structure and stated ethos. The changes outlined expanded data collection disclosures and confirmed that U.S. operations would now control content moderation and algorithm development domestically.
Skepticism remains on both sides of the political aisle. Some lawmakers have signaled plans to closely review the new arrangement to determine whether the changes go far enough to fully insulate U.S. users from foreign influence.
At the same time, many remain wary of the new ownership on political grounds. If the algorithm is controlled domestically, it could change what content people see. Some suggest political content is already being censored.
TikTok users now find themselves in the middle of a massive transfer—one that could permanently alter how the app operates, even after the outages subside.
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